To prevent rape, students to learn self-defense skills

On the heels of recent sexual harassment incidents on campus, the University will offer female students, faculty and staff an intensive 15-hour Rape Aggression Defense course — a non-martial arts program now taught in colleges across the country.

Beginning Friday and open to 10 participants, the class — sponsored by Public Safety and by Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising Resources and Education — will be taught by newly certified RAD instructor and Public Safety Sgt. Mike Septer.

"Basically this is an aggressive way to fight off an attacker with a few simple moves, so that when someone approaches you, you instinctively know how to physically defend yourself to get away," said Public Safety Crime Prevention Specialist Barry Weiser, who helped organize the course.

Weiser said last week's sexual harassment incident at the Pagoda Tennis Courts — about which Public Safety sent out a campus alert e-mail — reinforced the relevance of such courses for the University's female population.

The encounter was the second case of harassment this year, according to Public Safety officers. Five cases of sexual assault were reported to campus officials in 1999. Only one of those five was reported to Public Safety, however, ending in an arrest by Public Safety and Borough Police.

And though the recent harassment incidents did not directly spur the decision to conduct the class, Weiser said Public Safety has been working to effectively raise awareness of and protection against sexual assault on campus.

"Studying national campus crime statistics brings you to the conclusion that, hey, this is the biggest issue for women on campus," Weiser said. "And in what ways are other campuses being proactive? Well, RAD is one of them."

Founded in 1989 by an ex-marine in Virginia, RAD is the largest national organization of self-defense educators and the only one endorsed by the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.

The program seeks to channel natural aggressive behavior induced by the "fight or flight" instinct into effective self-defense techniques that women learn through repetitive, focused training.

The University RAD program will be split into five three-hour sessions within 10 days, including one "simulation training" session in which heavily padded instructors will act as aggressors. Up to three or four instructors from local police departments will join Septer in teaching the class and future courses.

Following this "fast-track" class — which compresses the training into a shorter-than-normal-time period — Weiser said he expects a new session to start within two months and a more structured schedule to be worked out for next semester.